CHAPTER 6
“Just to be sure, you are aware that it is your wedding that you are attending, and not your funeral?” Lady Anna asked jokingly as she took the seat to Lucy’s right.
“Oh, do not be mean.” Lady Helena sat on the other side and took Lucy’s hand. “She is just a little dazed, is all. Right Lucy? All of this…” She gestured across the dining hall, which was currently filled with scores of wedding guests. “It feels like just yesterday that you told us of the engagement. And look at you now. Her Grace, the Duchess of Calderwick.”
“It was very sudden,” Lady Anna agreed. “What was it, now? Two weeks that you came to us?”
“Twelve days,” Lucy sighed. “Twelve whole days was all it took.”
“His Grace must have called in a favor or two to acquire the license is such short time,” Helena said rightly. “Which I choose to see as a good thing?”
Anna snorted. “And why is that?”
“Because it means that he is excited for this union. Even eager.” Helena looked at both Anna and Lucy as if she needed them to believe it. “At the very least, he wants this marriage to work out for the best. Otherwise, he would have dragged it out.”
“You know that is not true,” Helena argued. “Just as you know the true reason.”
“I am only trying to be positive!” Anna snapped. “Which you could do a little more of…” She widened her eyes and indicated to Lucy, who sat despondently between the two of them.
Helena grimaced and took Lucy by the hand. “You are right, of course. Yes, the circumstances leading to this marriage were a little strange, but I am sure that bright pastures are what await you. It can only be that way.”
Lady Anna and Lady Helena were Lucy’s two closest friends. When they were younger, they were even involved in a little club that they had aptly named ‘The League of Untamed Hearts.’ In essence, the purpose of the club was to declare to the world that these particular ladies would not give in to what society expected. They would choose their own destiny, and marriage would only arrive if it dared to keep up with the freedom they each aspired to.
In hindsight, it was all rather silly, a dream that young girls are only capable of until they turn into women, at which time the world’s realities are forced upon them.
Nonetheless, her two friends looked at Lucy hopefully, desperate to turn her mood around. They knew the circumstances of this marriage, how it came to be and what it was designed for, but that did not stop them from hoping for the best.
If only I was able to share in their positivity… if only I was able to ignore reality, even for a day, and pretend that this is not the worst day of my life… the worst day of my life so far, that is.
“Perhaps,” Lucy sighed, and then she forced a smile. “You are right. Maybe His Grace is… is more than he seems. And maybe this marriage will be something wonderful.” She looked between her two friends; a forced smile painted across her face.
As for her two friends? They shared a look of concern because even they could not buy into the clear lie that Lucy was trying to sell herself.
This marriage, whatever it promised to be, would not be a happy one. It might not be a sad one, to be fair. It might not lead to woes and misery. But it was still a marriage, still a cage from which Lucy could not escape, and that was all that mattered.
“At least your father looks pleased,” Anna noted. As she did, she looked across the room to where Lucy’s father chatted merrily with some friends. “I heard him speaking earlier and he cannot stop bragging that his daughter is now a duchess.”
“Your stepmother should take a leaf from his book…” Helena grinned. “Have you seen her? She pretends to be pleased but it is so clear how upset she is. As if you marrying a duke is somehow a slight to her.”
This, at least, made Lucy chuckle.
Indeed, her stepmother was none too pleased that Lucy had found herself engaged to a duke. As ridiculous as it sounded, she seemed to think that this stole her power and place in the world, that she was suddenly second best because Lucy’s title now superseded her own.
“There it is,” Helena said when she saw the smile. “Finally, she smiles. Now, was that so hard?”
Lucy looked flatly at her friend. “Remind me again, why I invited you?”
“Because you would not know what to do without me,” Helena said. “And as miserable as you are, you would be even more so were I not here.”
“Me too!” Anna said. “We are here for you, Lucy, remember that. No matter what happens, or how bad you think things are, we will always be here for you.” She kept a hold of Lucy’s hand, squeezing it tight. “We’re your friends and that will never change.”
Lucy found her smile growing, and a tear leaked from her eye. “I know it. Both of you.” She looked between them. “And I am sorry about my sour mood. I know things will improve and that this…” She gestured toward the guests, the hall, the situation in general. “That one day I might look back on this and laugh at how morose I was.”
“We know you will.” Anna put an arm around Lucy.
As alone as I feel, it is good to remember that I still have friends in this world. That this is not the end of me… even if it feels like it.
It was two weeks ago now when Lucy had been forced to say yes to the Duke’s proposal. In those two weeks, so much had changed in Lucy’s life, and still she struggled to comprehend how things had come to this. Where it all went wrong…
